Link to Articlal: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/1/bolivia-cuts-ties-with-israel-other-latin-american-countries-recall-envoys
Summary: Bolivia had officially cut ties with Israel due to the war in Gaza and has stated they will send humanitarian aid to Gaza. Bolivia is among the first nations to end its diplomatic relations with Israel over this war and their doing this has urged many other Latin American countries to take action and do the same. Israel has spoken out against this retaliation from Bolivia and accused Bolivia of “capitulation to terrorism and the ayatollah regime in Iran” Many Latin American countries are against this war including Columbia and Chile. Chile has the largest, and one of the oldest, population Palestinian communities apart from the Arab world.
Analysis: Seeing as Bolivia, being one of the first countries to cut ties with Israel, has influenced many countries to start to do the same, there is a possibility many more diplomatic ties will be cut between Israel. This conflict has been monumental in countries worldwide, in latin america left-leaning countries have more often sympathized with the Palestinian cause, while the right-leaning countries have more often followed the lead of the United States. This timely split is going to continue to disrupt countries that are not in the mists of conflict and could lead to smaller conflicts starting between other countries. Alongside this, the cutting of ties with Israel could gradually weaken the state and change what Israel current plans are in this conflict.
Connection to Class: Israel and Palestine have both taken an offensive realist approach to this issue. Historically both Palestine and Israel have claimed this land as theri own, causing multiple wars over this territory to ensue. It seems that both of these countries are going to fight this issue till one side has fully won. Specifically in this article, we see an example of the fluidity of alliances and ties, when countries’ needs were not met, or in this case, their belief systems were broken, it resulted in a loss of alliance and ties from those countries for example bolivia. This is something we have seen numerous times in class and real life.